Facts About Alpacas
- Alpacas are a member of the camelid family, as are llamas, vicunas, and guanacos.
- They originate in the Adnes Mountains of South America. Countries of origin are Peru, Chili, and Bolivia.
- The average lifespan is 15 to 25 years.
- Average height is 36 inches at the withers.
- Average adult weight is 100 to 185 pounds.
- Alpacas are herd animals who feel comfort in numbers. They communicate with body language and humming.
- They are only livestock to produce more than twenty natural colors of fiber.
- Alpacas have one of two fiber types, huacaya or suri. Huacaya fiber has a hollow core and is soft and fluffy. Suri grows in ropelike dreadlocks and is silky and shiny.
- You can comfortably raise 5 to 10 animals per acre.
- Travel can be by trailer, van, minivan, or even pickup and canopy.
- The cost to feed an adult alpaca for one year is approximately $100.
- Alpacas are very disease resistant since they use a common dung pile and do not eat near it.
- Females can begin breeding as early as 13 months, and can produce upwards of 15 offspring in their lifetime.
- Males usually begin breeding at 2 to 3 years.
- A newborn alpaca "cria" usually weighs between 12 and 20 pounds.
- Crias usually stand and nurse within one hour of birth.
- Average gestation is 11 months.
- Alpacas almost always have single births.